We are going through a generational shift that has been accelerated by the pandemic. People are finding out that living for your job for 40 years isn't all it is cracked up to be. They had a little taste of a "better life" and now won't be pushed back into the box.

For me, I went to 80% time. I make less money but have a lot more time with my wife and kids. Plus I have time to exercise, sleep better, and enjoy hobbies like pinball and reading for fun.

The younger generation has realized that the concept of hard work equals success and security is a lie and are demanding better from employers. The issue isn't lazy workers as much as cheap employers.
Why show loyalty to a company that isn't loyal to you?
Quid pro quo baby.

A lot of the reason why we cant fill job vacancies is because the US closed off immigration. They made it harder to legally come here and illegally which both fill jobs. Theres lots of educated people that would like to come here but its a process. And then theres lots of possible workers on the lower end that would like to be here as well.

That would solve some of the issues but not all of course. I dont know if there really is a generational shift in what “hard work” means.

Just living with less. Not going out. Enjoying life vs collecting of things.

You answered your own question.

Well... I got "snapped up" last year for the company I'm currently working for.
My new company started me with a substantial increase in pay, bump in title, has a good benefits package, free lunch, free on site gym membership, weekly clubs, education reimbursement, flexible work from home options, flexible start times, unlimited time off (within reason), and emphasize work life balance (and actually mean it... if you only want to put in your 40 hours, no one gives you a hard time).

We are having no problems finding people. We have a bunch of "millennials" here that everyone from the outside tell us are unreliable and don't want to work. But we treat people right and have no issues with them.

I couldn't have said it better myself

~Jeff

Pay people to stay at home, and get a check in the mail box for doing nothing, then that is what they will do.

We are dying for employees. We have had up to 48 employees and was around 28 before [Removed]. We are currently sitting at 8 employees not including sales team. Everyone is doing the work of 5 people and literally no one applying for our jobs we have posted. I have never seen anything like this to be honest. We live in a damn clown world right now. We are giving all our loyal employees large raises and bonuses. My wife (who works for another company) threatened to leave and she got a $40k raise and another month of vacation. INSANE! We have ads out for $20 a hour for very easy basic warehouse duty. Everyone wants to make $100k per year with no experience. This younger generation is something special and not in a good way.

Nurses are treated pretty poorly overall by the healthcare industry and are a super high demand field. The business should've raised wages to compete with the other offers if they wanted to retain their staff.
Supply and demand. You can't eat loyalty.

bingo

Ok Boomer. Lol had to say it.

Sounds like you need to raises wages there grandpa. Pack of smokes is no longer a nickel!

Since Covid finding workers has been a struggle. I can't pinpoint a specific generation, it has seemed like an overall mindset. The amount of people looking for work seems to be near zero in my area.
No loyalty from new employees, and everyone wants way more $ than ever before.
Not to mention my small business has taken a huge hit with supply cost. Between payroll increases, overhead increases, and less production, its hard to continue to give workers more money when my take home is less and less.
Can only hope things will change as time moves on.

I used to work at a community College teaching people how to drive large commercial vehicles.

Recruiters would come in looking for new drivers at a training wage to start and the students would ask..."why work for you when I can make the same collecting unemployment?"

They want high pay with no experience.

The pandemic taught us that you are no longer defined by what you “do” for a living, rather, what you “do”.

You no longer have to make money by being a slave to big business that doesn’t care about you. You no longer have to put up with inept or abusive management.

Gen Z questions everything, as they should. They aren’t afraid to talk about self care and mental health.

And bitching about “these kids today and their work effort” is as old as time.

When you start spewing it, you’ve officially become your father.

Don't start throwing mud now....

This is the most asinine thing I've read in a while. Immigrants are pouring across the southern borders at rates never seen before. Small southern towns are being overwhelmed. Texas sends a few bus loads to New York and DC, and they try to call in the National Guard - when that's but a tiny fraction of what Texas and the other southern states are seeing.

Please, tell me how the US has closed off immigration.

I hate to say it like this but the government ruined everything. Gave people huge payouts for sitting at home, these so-called professors, who should be shot, claimed that working from home was more productive... bull crap.

two of my employees didn't want to return to office, and wanted to sit on their lazy butts at home, so I
fired them

Work ethics is shit in this country.

Maybe noone wants to work for you due to your personality? You seem like a real peach.

Username checks out.

$500? Hah! The referal bonus at my company is now $5,000. Thats not you get a $5,000 bonus for starting, thats you get a $5,000 bonus if someone you recommend/introduce is hired.

I work in a high tech field supporting the government in a position that can never be out-sourced/shored and can never be done remotely (trust me). The demand for people with my skill set is insane. I'm a lead at my company too and we cannot fill positions. Our company could grow by 33% tomorrow with guaranteed revenue on every new employee but we cannot fill spots.

There was a huge round of retirements at the beginning/end of COVID when they let everyone return to work. About 10% of employees just decided to retire and not come back in (many were older). Since then it has been ridiculous trying to get people. Additionally, Amazon opened a big office 30 minutes away and they are hiring people out from under us left and right.

I love my job/company and have been here almost 9 years. Someone tries to poach me from another company almost every week. I pass by billboards offering $20,000 signing bonuses every week. I could leave tomorrow for a job Monday with a 20% pay increase... but I really like where I work.

As to hiring people, it is now at the point that every qualified candidate we get is fought over by the leads within the company. It's not "should we hire this person" its "where can we put this person.

Edit to add: it's not just that you can't get good help at the introductory level, it is effecting all levels of employment from what I can tell.

Edit 2 to add: Kids these days

Having an entitled attitude where you think employees will just bow to your terms is absurd and that was my point. It's a simple supply and demand issue with employers needing to meet the demands of potential employees to attract them. There is no global conspiracy run by the government causing you not to get employees.

Yeah, like how employers want an applicant with ten years experience but offer entry level salary.

This argument boils down to boomers saying "Nobody wants to work anymore!" and zoomers saying "I'm not going to work a shit-paying job that sucks and barely pays the bills!"

Unemployment rates are super low right now, so people have plenty of choices of where to get a job. Like others have said, the pandemic has changed how people view their lives and jobs. With remote work, people can live just about anywhere with internet and find some sort of work to pay the bills. It's a different universe and companies have to adapt, or deal with the consequences.

I'm okay with this concept, but saying "I'm not going to work!" used to mean going hungry. That is no longer the case.

Was sitting in the service wait room this morning at my car dealer. One employee came in empty handed. Apparently he was on a Dunkin run for the group. He said that the manager temporarily closed the location as 13 of their 15 employees staged a “group quit” today. This Dunkin offers $15/hr plus tips - the wage that was a big “push” from many (and over twice the NH & Federal min wage).

I’m not saying the rich don’t need to realize and support those who make them rich. Its a big sticking point at my employer. It’s just staggering that $15/hr plus tips for an entry level, no qualifications fast food job doesn’t make you shut up and do your job nowadays.

Maybe.. but not all companies can offer remote work. gdonovan is talking about nursing homes... How are they going to do that work remote?

I also think this flight to remote work is going to bite alot of people and the butt and reverse itself long term. If you can do the work from your home basement in Indiana there is no reason why it cannot be done cheaper from a sweat shop in India.

The horror! He just wants to live life and be happy and he only works “enough” to do that?

What’s wrong with kids these days? It’s almost like they have this delusion that work is a necessary part of life, but isn’t what they should build their lives around. Very strange.

I work with people in their 20s and early 30s (hundreds and hundreds of them) and they will walk out on gigs with people that have that mindset. Make of that what you will.

I hear this all the time and it still confuses me to this day. Yes politicians and corporations got huge bailouts and ppp loans that they never had to pay back, they used it to buy back stock, line their pockets and so on, see plenty of recent news about that. But average folk in the USA? No they got little to nothing, they got royally screwed.

See the attached pic. I didn't list the source because that would make it become political but it's fairly trivial to google multiple sources about the damage to our valued immigration. We lost *many* talented immigrants during that period who rather than bring their brain power here instead simply setup shop in other countries and are now our competitors.

pasted_image (resized).png

But does that mean the company or boss can treat you like dirt? If you provide a good work environment, you'll get good employees. The key is making that known. If all the employees in that store up and quit, I'd say it has more to do with the environment and less about pay.

Why don't you work there then?

Probably retired... and not as many people packing into medical school to take their places. It is not viewed as prestigious the way it used to be.

My Father In Law just left the ICU and we are setting him up with nursing care at home while in a back brace. He really needs ot be in a nursing home. Somehow, he is getting "skilled nursing care" at home that does catheterization for... $22 an hour. I'll give credit that it is the cheapest nurse we could find that could do catheters, but how does a nursing degree make sense on that salary? It sucks... I love Doctors and Nurses.

$20 a hour for warehouse work doesn't compute when the person has their rent jump from $1000 to $2000 or more in a month over the last year or two. We have had several 30+ year skilled labor employees quit my place of employment and go elsewhere in the last few weeks because the company isn't changing with the times. A 3% raise after 6 years of no raises during the good times isn't going to cut it in the free market. Loyalty is a 2-way street, and the power is changing hands for the first time in a generation. If you feel you are underpaid, you are an idiot for not looking elsewhere right now. As a company, you either adapt or die...its that simple.

And please stop using stimulus payments as a reason for people not working. Do the math in your head and think about the amount of money which was handed out to each person over the sum of all stimulus payments, and ask yourself how you live for 2 years on that. $1200+$600+$1400 doesn't go very far.

They got burnt out and said f this and switched careers. Same thing with teachers.

In OR a lot retired or took jobs with less interaction with general population. My wife worked for hospital.